Tour Information and Schedule

Central Library

Public Tours

The Boston Public Library offers daily tours highlighting the architecture of its famed Central Library buildings by Charles Follen McKim and Philip Johnson as well as the art treasures within, including works by Daniel Chester French and John Singer Sargent.

Free public tours are offered to visitors by trained volunteer guides. Please note that unauthorized guides are not permitted to lead tours within the library.

Tours last approximately one hour and begin from the McKim Building vestibule, through the library's Dartmouth Street entrance.

Private groups of any size up to 60 people may request an Art & Architecture tour outside of the daily public tour times. Individual parties larger than 8 people are not permitted to join a public tour and must schedule a separate private tour.

A minimum lead time of four weeks is required for private tour requests; bookings are subject to guide availability.

Each guide can accommodate up to 20 visitors; a $100 fee per guide applies. An invoice will be sent to the billing addressee listed on the tour request form. Please note that at least 24 hours’ notice is requested in order to issue a refund for cancelled or rescheduled tours.

Tours last approximately one hour and begin from the McKim Building vestibule, just through the Dartmouth Street entrance.

Student Groups

If you are a teacher or professor planning to bring your students for a self-guided Art & Architecture tour of the Central Library, please contact the Tours office at tours@bpl.org or 617-859-2216 to register your group (please allow a minimum of 3 weeks before your planned tour).

If your student group prefers to arrange a private Art & Architecture tour with a BPL guide, please refer to the section on Private Tours above.

Any student group attending a private tour must provide one adult chaperone per 10 students. The tour material is currently recommended for middle-school age and above.

Please note that unauthorized guides are not permitted to lead tours in the library. All group tours must be led by an approved BPL-trained guide or staff member. For information and policies on groups, please contact tours@bpl.org or 617.859.2216.

The following guides are available to those experiencing the Central Library's art and architecture outside of a group:

While attending Art & Architecture tours, you can expect an hour of walking and standing throughout three floors of the McKim Building. Every floor is accessible by elevator if you are not able to use the stairs. We recommend that patrons with accessibility requirements enter through the 700 Boylston Street entrance (Johnson Building) and take the Glass Elevator up one half level to the first floor of the McKim Building. From there, there is a route across the courtyard without stairs to the McKim Vestibule, where tours begin. If you are unable to bring your own wheelchair or have any questions about accessibility on our tours, please email tours@bpl.org or call 617.859.2216.

Volunteer Opportunities

As a training class for new tour guides is currently underway, we are not accepting applications for immediate review.

For more information about the program requirements and the responsibilities of tour guides, please refer to the position overview (PDF).

If you are interested in applying to serve as a tour guide in a future round of training and would like us to keep your information on file, please complete the application form (Microsoft Word) and submit to tours@bpl.org or mail to: Tour Guide Program, c/o Meghan Weeks, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116.